Nearly 200 ready-to-use ideas for hard-hitting Bible lessons and relevant worship services for teenagers! - Bible Study Meetings . . . Techniques and approaches for making any Bible lesson -- topical or scriptural -- appealing to unchurched teenagers as well as to preachers' kids. - Creative Bible Lessons . . . 'Martha and Mary Malpractice' (page 67), 'Noah and the Ark I. Q. Test' (page 43), and 70 more very different, very fun, and very solid Bible lessons. - Theme Lessons . . . Build an entire lesson on a specific theme. Try 'Feet Meeting' (page 118) -- foot games followed by a lesson on the symbolic importance of washing each other's feet. You aren't into feet? Okay, what about the hands of Jesus? Or the light versus darkness? They're all here! - Bible Games . . . These won't speed your kids into seminary, but they certainly go a long way toward making the Bible interesting to your students -- and fun, too! - Worship Services . . . Some are informal, others have a liturgical feel -- and all are innovative. Here are the ideas for communion, confession, music, prayer, and Scripture reading. And More . . . Full lessons (all the components are here, from opening mixers to closing prayers), board games (with reproducible game 'boards'), and ideas for using guest speakers and special projects. Whether you're a youth worker or a recreation director at a church, school, club, or camp -- Creative Meetings, Bible Lessons, and Worship Ideas is your storehouse of proven, youth-group tested ideas.

Nearly 200 ideas for planning meaningful, memorable experiences for your kids! -Camps & Retreats . . . The drive up the mountain . . . The opening talk . . . The outdoor activities . . . The closing fireside -- here's a lodgeful of ideas for organizing successful camps and retreats. - Missions . . . Because even foreign mission work can start within our own borders, you'll find dozens of ideas for helping overseas missionaries right here at home. A used-Bible drive, a scavenger hunt for missionary supplies -- activities like these not only benefit missionaries, but also help your kids understand the personal, local aspects of mission work. - Service . . . Expose your students to others' needs! Inside you'll find ways to help children, the community at large, the elderly, the poor and homeless, shut-ins, and the sick and disabled Whether you're a youth worker or recreation director in a church, school, club, or camp -- Camps, Retreats, Missions, & Service Ideas is your storehouse of proven, youth-group tested ideas.

Start Discussions That Matter to Your High Schoolers About God. About themselves, their, beliefs, their questions, their lives.[Burst: More than a quarter-million copies sold in this series!]More High School TalkSheets—Updated! contains the same kind of provocative, compelling, discussion-starting questions that are hallmarks of the best-selling TalkSheets series—now updated for new-millennium high schoolers. Here are 50 more creative discussions that focus on relevant, real-life topics:The FutureDeathPrioritiesAIDSHeaven & HellPremarital SexPrayerKnowing GodHomosexualityMaterialism & Consumerism. . . and 40 more subjects of perennial interest to teenagers.TalkSheets are convenient, effective one-page reproducible handouts with intriguing questions that will get churched kids and unchurched kids alike talking and thinking about the Bible—and how its principles affect their daily lives.Use TalkSheets to launch your own lesson—or use them as stand-alone Bible studies. Each TalkSheet comes with detailed information and suggestions for discussion leaders: Bible references galore, Internet resources, further group exploration, and activities to pursue during and after the meeting.More High School TalkSheets—Updated! is the perfect discussion-starting resource for youth meetings, small groups and cell groups, Sunday school, and camps and retreats.

A first-of-its-kind study of Protestant youth ministers reveals the hopes, frustrations, and effectiveness of today’s youth workers.Of the 7,000 youth workers assembled in 1996 under Atlanta’s Georgia Dome, a sample of 2,130 full-time youth ministers from dozens of Protestant denominations and parachurch organizations answered a battery of exhaustive, deliberate questions covering:What they liked best about youth ministryWhat particularly pleased them in their work with youthWhat they found most encouraging or discouragingTheir biggest obstacle to an effective youth ministryTheir biggest concern in youth ministryTheir answers revealed a dedicated group of professionals, concerned a out the students in their ministries, but troubled with a variety of perplexing issues. And their answers form the backbone of Youth Ministry That Transforms, a comprehensive analysis of this groundbreaking study (funded by the Lilly Endowment) focusing on the hopes, frustrations, and effectiveness of today’s youth workers.Spearheaded by Merton Strommen--one of America’s most exemplary and influential thinkers and authors in youth and family ministry--the research-writing team is joined by Karen E. Jones and Dave Rahn of Huntington (Indiana) College’s Link Institute for Faithful and Effective Youth Ministry, and acknowledged leader in the task of undergirding youth ministry with a research base. These three deliver thorough analysis and sound interpretation regarding the state of youth ministry at the dawn of the 21st century.Youth Ministry That Transforms belongs on the desks and in the classrooms of all who are concerned with this developing profession, including denominational and parachurch leadership, professors, youth ministry students, and thoughtful youth workers themselves. It is also an insightful resource for any who want to understand youth ministers and their profession: senior pastors, executive pastors, and other individuals and committees charged with hiring and supervising youth workers.

Get Your Students Talking About the Bible And God. And themselves, their beliefs, their questions, their lives. About the things that matter to them.Do it conveniently and effectively with Junior High-Middle School TalkSheets--Updated!, part of the best-selling discussion-starting TalkSheets series from Youth Specialties, now updated for new-millennium students. Here are 50 creative discussions that focus on relevant, real-life topics:Media Influences--TV, Music, AdvertisingSubstance Abuse & Peer PressureParentsSelf-Image & Physical AppearanceJesusFriendshipsPrayer & WorshipTrusting God & Dealing with Doubt. . . and 40 more subjects of perennial interest to teenagers.TalkSheets are one-page reproducible handouts with provocative questions in a compelling design that will get churched and unchurched kids alike talking and thinking about the Bible--and how its principles affect their daily lives.Use TalkSheets to launch your own lesson--or use them as stand-alone Bible studies. Each TalkSheet comes with detailed information and suggestions for discussion leaders: Bible references galore, Internet resources, further group exploration, and activities to pursue during and after the meeting.Junior High-Middle School TalkSheets--Updated! is the perfect discussion-starting resource for youth meetings, small groups and cell groups, Sunday school, and camps and retreats.More than a quarter million copies sold in this series!

TalkSheets have been working for youth group leaders for more than a decade. Now they are radically updated and ready to stimulate high schoolers toward in-depth discussions on real issues--everything from drinking to social justice.

You know them as hilarious, boisterous skits that get kids involved, whether they're hamming up front, or in the audience cheering for the good guys, hissing the bad guys, and getting nearly as animated as the onstage actors. Better yet, these no-rehearsal skits are comic takes on 24 classic Bible stories, from Babel to Zacchaeus. Use these skits to take your students into or out of your Bible lesson -- for the humor never buries the central message of the Bible passage. Inside you'll find 12 Old Testament and 12 New Testament stories -- like these: - The First Tongue Twister (the Tower of Babel) - Josephine's Dream (Joseph and his brothers) - The Young and the Hairless (Samson and Delilah) - Dave, the Wave, and the Giant Kahuna (David and Goliath) - Dances with Lions (Daniel) - World Serious: The Empire Strikes Out (the temptation of Jesus) - Good Sam, the Levis, and Judas Priest (parable of the Good Samaritan) - Showdown at Tombstone (Jesus and the demon-possessed man) Unchurched teenagers who can't tell Samson from Solomon, or long-time youth group kids -- everyone will love not merely hearing or reading Bible stories, but doing them. Welcome to more than a year's worth of slapstick, pratfalls, and melodrama. These Bible-story skits are anything but solemn, but they'll make Bible stories memorable for your students.

This is a manual for quick and convenient access to the spectrum of administrative and managerial tasks that face youth workers every day with a companion CD-ROM that includes not only a student contact database, but all the book's forms in editable format.

Cultivate Intimacy and Honesty in Your Youth Ministry’s Small Groups Here are 31 small-group meetings about--well, small groups. After all, the kind of honest sharing, perceptive silence, compassionate boldness, and mutual growth that are the marks of an effective and attractive small group don’t always come naturally. With the complete sessions in Talking the Walk--all of them customized precisely for small groups--—you can lead your small group of teenagers from just getting comfortable with kids they don’t usually hang with, to talking honestly, listening carefully, and understanding themselves and each other. The first five meetings are a gradual, gentle introduction to the idea of communication, confidences, and listening skills--the mechanics and heart of small-group dynamics--then on to more than two dozen topical meetings about issues that matter most to adolescents: how to face life’s tensions; self esteem; change; sexuality; giving and receiving love; clarifying future goals; friends; family; forgiveness; diversity; conflict; moods; priorities--and more, all of them based in Bible passages . . . appropriate for mixed groups of churched and unchurched kids . . . and each session with more than enough creative and quirky ideas, so you can select those that best fit your style and your small group’s temperament. Perfect for outreach and evangelism groups, discipleship groups, Sunday school, midweek cell groups--any time you want small groups of your students to grow together in community, in intimacy, in faith. (Previously published as Honest to God) 31 sessions.

Does your youth group suffer from the "silent complex"? Need help to get them talking about what's really important? Would you like to be a more effective discussion leader? Then look no further! Get 'Em Talking gives you 104 field-tested ideas that will get your kids talking about topics like . . . Rock Music - Dating - Serving God - Death - Friendship - Peer Pressure - Anger - Drugs and Alcohol - Gossip - Family - Parents - The Church - Values - Faith - Cheating - Jesus . . . and many more! Get 'Em Talking is the perfect resource for anyone who leads discussions. You'll glean the insights of two of the nation's most experienced youth professionals on what makes discussion groups tick, how to get a good discussion started, what to do when problems hit, and much more. Learn How to Effectively Use Discussion Techniques Like: - No-risk Discussions - Rug Discussions - "If" Surveys - Yarn-Sharing Experiences - Relay Discussions - Tape Talk - Groupers - Continuum Discussions -- Get 'Em Talking will quickly become an indispensable part of your youth ministry resource library. Whenever you need a great discussion-starting idea, just reach for Get 'Em Talking!